Interdisciplinary Research Practice - Collaborating to Address Societal Challenges

Equal collaboration that creates changes and solutions to societal challenges

In the HUMpraxis programme, which focuses on research-practice collaborations, we aim to promote equal collaboration and knowledge exchange across sectors: between researchers in the humanities and social sciences and practitioners in the social, environmental, and adult life transition domains.

The goal is to produce both original research results and tangible changes in practice and to translate them into sustainable solutions to current societal challenges, fostering a democratic and sustainable society on an informed and inclusive basis.

The ’human factor’ plays a crucial role in several of society’s major challenges in these areas and potential solutions to them.

The humanities and social sciences, with their unique scientific approaches, can contribute research-based development, insights, new understanding, and solutions in relation to the challenges faced by the three domains: the social sector, the environmental field, and transitions and changes in adult life.
Professionals from practice can contribute expert, practice-based knowledge and insight into pressing issues, the conditions of everyday life, and the systemic and organisational opportunities and barriers within societal challenges. In doing so, practice also contributes to scientific innovation and theory development.

We aim to strengthen and highlight this societal value creation through grants for cross-sectoral, closely integrated research and development projects, where research expertise and practical expertise engage in equal collaboration and interaction throughout the entire process: from formulating the project idea to realising changes and solutions for either the environment, the social sector, or transitions and changes in adult life.

The fields of humanities, social sciences, the social sector, the environmental field, and transitions and changes in adult life are key grant areas in the foundation’s philanthropic work. This provides VELUX FONDEN with a unique opportunity to support collaborations, concrete solutions, and knowledge dissemination across different sectors for the benefit of society, citizens, and nature.

The programme has annual open calls and competitive selection.

In the first step, brief expressions of interest, project budgets, and short CVs are submitted. These documents are uploaded to the foundation's application portal.

All expressions of interest are reviewed by the secretariat in an interdisciplinary panel with foundation advisors from the relevant grant areas. Here, the expressions of interest are assessed and prioritised based on how well they meet the programme’s overarching goals and the clarity of the various fields in the expression of interest. The secretariat prepares recommendations for the board, which then decides which expressions of interest will be invited to submit full applications.

All applicants will receive a response. Those invited to submit full applications will be granted up to DKK 100,000 in project development funds for further collaboration on the development of the final application. All invited applicants will be offered individual guidance meetings with the secretariat.

Full applications are sent for external review. Two experts, one international research expert from the Nordic countries and one practice expert from Denmark, are identified for each application based on the specific research and practice area of the proposal.

The experts will prepare individual, detailed written assessments. These form the basis for the secretariat’s recommendations to the foundation's board, which makes the final prioritisation and decisions regarding grants and rejections.

Typically, five HUMpraxis projects will be granted within the annual funding framework of up to DKK 31 million, of which DKK 1.5 million is allocated to project development funds. Typically, about one-third of the invited full applications will receive funding.

With the programme, the foundation aims not only to promote individual projects but also to systematically contribute to the collection of experiences and capacity building of research-practice collaboration. Both universities and institutions in the surrounding society can benefit from the results.

This is done through network meetings for granted projects, where experiences can be exchanged and collected, which both the projects and the foundation can use in the ongoing development of the programme, as well as in dialogue and guidance for future applicants.

In addition, in collaboration and partnership with the Dronning Mary’s Center at the University of Copenhagen, we have established a network, Impact Lab, where the opportunities of research-practice collaborations are explored and developed.

The collaboration with Dronning Mary’s Center has also resulted in joint work on a series of publications that will serve as a publicly accessible resource bank for experience dissemination and broader capacity building.